#27 Office Perks, What are your favorites?
Mar 9th, 2009 by pfi
Free beverages are just the tip of the iceberg. Try health-conscious snacks, gourmet meals, and espresso machines – all for free. Any office has pens and staplers, but does your office have a nickel vending machine? Every office has a break room, but does your office have a nap room?
Accountants are experts at abusing office perks. Even if something is not for taking, chances are an accountant has already helped themselves to it.
A good example of perk abuse is training. Locked into training rooms all day, accountants binge on coffee, mineral water, and themed snacks to help them put on more weight, err, to help them concentrate. Accountants will sneak water bottles, lunch sandwiches, and hotel pens into their room. They don’t really need any of these things, but it allows them to save up Per Diem. While training is not technically an office perk, accountants abuse it nonetheless.
Office perks (of the food variety) are important in an accountant’s career. It allows an accountant to get a head start on gaining and keeping weight while on the job. Accountants live in front of their laptops eating company meals. Combined with no exercise (moving binders doesn’t count no matter what an accountant says), the weight gain is inevitable.
Feel free to post your favorite office perks. Anything from a free Starbucks in the building to a dusty coffee pot that nobody ever uses.
Flavia coffee machines, free sodas and breakfast ordered for meetings (usually by other departments)!
Free catered in lunch on first day of monthly financial close.
Free donuts, 6th floor.
I worked at a client that had a soda fountain and ice cream machine in the break room. Their inventory process was all jacked up, but still…
Gym in a building that I use once every two years, and free parking in the building (life saver when attending NHL games played nearby).
the piece of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory that we normally wouldn’t order if we had to pay for it.
All these free perks are disappearing or are already gone at my company (B4)
Free cereal at the client for breakfast and dinner – and free lunch catered everyday
Auditor: “Bartender, I’ll have a PBR tall boy.”
Bartender: “You got it.”
Auditor #2: “Dude, there’s a card down.”
Auditor: “Sorry, can I change that PBR to a double Citadelle and tonic.”
Free lunches at the client’s site… and occasional afternoon cakes.
We’ve lost any and all perks at our office (big4)
We are lucky enough to have a fully stocked kitchen. Our admin person goes grocery shopping once a week, and we tell him exactly what we want
In addition to the food, we always do fun activities like river rafting, bbq’s, and lake days. Also, afternoon meetings sometimes include wine and hors d’oeuvres. We are definitely spoiled 
We used to have a lot of perks, now all we have is free coffee, and they’ve even cut the variety of flavors on that. I think they realize that without coffee, accounting doesn’t happen.
What Perks? They take away your individuality in exchange for free flavia coffee?
Diet Dr. Pepper on Tap!
we don’t get anything now. they blame it on the economy. we’ve gotten 5 free meals since the start of busy season and one of them was a promo from a local restaurant.
The firm where I worked for two and a half years always had cheap vending machines and plenty of free food from all sorts of occasions. But the kicker was the Nintendo Wii they installed in a new “Break room” just as I was leaving. I would like to know who had the balls to play Wii while at the office.
Maybe this should be under “Stuff Accountants Liked.”
They have not cut everything, but they’ve cut a lot.
I used to work for a small firm that took everyone in the firm on an all inclusive 3-day trip to mexico in april each year after busy season, fully paid for by the firm. The firm that I work for now, cancelled all the perks, including dinner in busy season and on weekends due to the economy.
Chair massages on saturday mornings, occassional free food, open bar at worke events. Our coffee is so terrible its an anti-perk. I gladly walk across the street and pay $1 for a decent cup of coffee.
The office space one of my clients leases is owned by Coca-Cola. We have free Coca-Cola products on tap and is definitely the best perk I have.
@top ten tax – I feel you on that BS with no free meals during busy season. We started cutting “unnecessary costs” which apparently include meals when you’re working 15 hours a day.
When I left Big 4 I may or may not have helped myself to a 2008 copy of US Master Tax Guide………………………………….
Fresh fruit in front of the CEO’s office
One of my company’s clients is a soft drink giant and they give free soda to all the offices in the area. There’s always a fully stocked mini fridge.
[...] Accountants also tend to have a college student mentality guiding their decisions. If it works and it’s free, so much the better. This also fits in well with company provided alcohol and office perks. [...]
Expense Reports! and P-Card!
Got to make up for the crappy salary so way!!!!
I love nice pens. I am cutting down though. I have reduced my pen-count (pens, pencils, highlighters etc) from 30+ to 7. I feel more organized
and less xthing. I guess when pens count as perks then you are truly an accountant 
@24 IKP – RE “one of my company’s clients” I assume you are trying to say one of your firm’s clients? If that’s the case, how does your client providing mass amounts of free soda to your firm not impair the firm’s independence?? I’m just saying.
Re: #28: How do you know it’s not a non-audit consulting or tax prep client (i.e. one that would not require independence?)
free shoe shines twice a month
Free alcohol at the client’s expense, per diem, travel miles, overnight bonus, all-you-can-eat busy season kitchen, massages,,, the list goes on… Don’t forget free gym and weight loss program after the busy season
When I worked at a private real-estate investment company, they provided lunch every day + various coffee and espresso machines, snacks and sodas galore, monthly cake day for all the month’s birthdays, free parking, incredible supply closets/drawers, after work events (such as plays/comdey/etc), and cheap weekly yoga classes on an empty floor. Within the accounting department, we would always go out to eat on the accountant’s birthday on their actual birthdays or if someone was leaving.
During my public internship, pretty much all that except the daily lunches and no yoga